Car from scratch

01 Jul 2012

I built this car from scratch, it was almost completely made by hand. I even made the seats from scratch since I couldn't find any seats that could fit in the car. I started drawing the 3D models for it right after I finished brevet. It took five months to get it up and running (three from the summer and an extra two during school). It took an additional month to finish the body work and paint. It has a 250cc engine which gives 15brake horsepower, it's rear-wheel-drive and has an estimated top speed of 60kph. It has 4 wheel suspension and its mass is 250kg (physicists hate it when people misuse the word "weight"). I installed 800 watt speakers and an amplifier which goes great with my iPhone :p. It has a differential to distribute the power over both wheels when the car steers, the steering system employed is called rack and pinion which is more practical than power steering (which uses oil) and better than Ackerman steering (employed by ATVs) and I made it by hand along with the suspension system. The wheels are 20 inch and have offroad tires. It is water-cooled, gasoline flows to the engine by gravity, i.e. it doesn't have a fuel pump. It has an automatic gearbox, with neutral, reverse and drive. It has all the essentials, headlights, a horn, signal lights, reverse lights, speedo, mirrors, and has an electric starter.